Safety is an important topic in ham radio. There are 11 questions on electrical hazards in the USA Technician class license exam pool, 13 questions on tower safety and associated grounding, and 13 questions on radio frequency (RF) hazards.

Here we are concerned about non-contact RF energy. A long and involved topic (sorry about that) but full of useful detail.

While it involves radiation, RF energy radiates at lower wavelengths where it is least hazardous.

From the electromagnetic spectrum diagram above we see that radio waves are on the low end of energy levels. As the frequency increases (wavelengths decrease) the energy in electron volts increases exponentially. Energy above 250eV (or so) is ionizing, which in addition to radiation burns can cause cell damage and mutations, leading to cancer and other maladies, as would radioactive material.

Fortunately for hams, all radio frequencies are well below the ionizing radiation energy levels.

Ham radio operators are radio active, not radioactive. 🙂Now just because RF radiation is non-ionizing doesn’t mean it is completely safe. Besides the direct contact hazard, exposure to radio frequency energy may cause localized tissue heating, particularly in the eyes and male reproductive area (here’s where a lady ham has an advantage, hihi). Non-thermal effects of RF radiation are being studied constantly because, while compelling, they are somewhat ambiguous and unproven.

Because RF energy has this radiated exposure risk, rules and regulations have arisen to protect people from such hazards. In the USA this is done at the federal level by both the FCC (radio communications) and OSHA (occupational). There are also guidelines for RF radiation published by the ARRL and the IEEE. Internationally, most countries apart from the US have similar guidelines, as does the World Health Organization (WHO). References to some of these are given at the end of this presentation.

Specific to US radio amateurs, the FCC instituted RF field exposure limits called Maximum Permissible Exposure (MPE). Continue reading →

Safety is an important topic in ham radio. There are 11 questions on electrical hazards in the USA Technician class license exam pool, 13 questions on tower safety and associated grounding, and 13 questions on radio frequency (RF) hazards.

Part 1 on general electrical hazards was posted previously. This post will address contact RF hazards. In case you are not familiar with the specifics of RF energy, refer to our post on the subject. A future post will cover the broad context of non-contact or indirect RF (radiation) safety. Both direct and indirect RF exposure will heat living tissue.

Here we are concerned about direct contact with a RF signal of significant energy. This might happen if a person or animal touches a conductor carrying RF energy. This most likely happens when someone touches an antenna element while the radio is transmitting. It’s painful…..as in, full of pain.

Another risk of RF contact is while working on live transmitter equipment or an antenna connector. It’s not hard to accidentally key the mic with your hands inside a transmitter enclosure or while touching an un-mated RF connector.

Human skin contact with live RF conductors is a painful experience above very low power levels. What makes it painful is that RF energy heats and damages tissue beneath the outer layer of skin, resulting in 2nd and 3rd degree burns. Not normally superficial, RF burns heal slowly.

Without going into physiological details, we will simply quote one person’s testimony: “For the first half-hour or so, all I could see was a tiny dot on my fingertip, and I didn’t think much of it. As the day went on, it hurt more and more, and by the end of the day there was a big, deep, dark blister that covered my entire fingertip and hurt like hell. It took weeks to heal.” There are some good references to RF burns at the end of this post, including a number of personal experiences.

There are a several factors involved in RF burns: Power level (available energy), contact surface area (more is better) , grounding/return contact (less is better) and radio frequency (the body absorbs more energy at certain frequencies).

How much power is needed to create a RF burn? Again, it varies. There are reports of people getting fingertip burns by touching the top of the antenna connector on a relatively low-power handheld VHF transceiver (5W) and keying the PTT button with no antenna screwed in. Obviously, a 100W HF transmitter can do much more damage than this. You don’t need to touch a 50kW AM broadcast antenna to get a nasty RF burn.

Treatment of RF burns are just like any other type– run cold water over it and/or ice it and seek medical attention. Avoidance is the best defense. Of course, most RF burns are unintentional so the best we can do is make you aware. Stay safe!

Direct RF burns cause more immediate tissue damage than indirect radiation but there is a hazard with both; be looking for a future posting in indirect RF hazards.

Safety is an important topic in ham radio. There are 11 questions on electrical hazards in the USA Technician class license exam pool, 13 questions on tower safety and associated grounding, and 13 questions on radio frequency (RF) hazards.

Several of these have been used by us previously but in retrospect we should have given the safety topic more airtime, pun intended. New hams are unlikely to have antenna towers so we don’t plan to discuss tower safety much. That leaves electrical and RF hazards to cover.

This post will address general electrical hazards and related safety; a future post will focus on RF hazards.

Radios and accessories are electrical devices so let’s start with the most obvious hazard: electric shock, which is caused by current flowing through a human body. Current is useful in electronics but harmful when flowing through a person. Current can disrupt heart and lung function at even low levels. It can also cause unwanted muscle movement, or prevent it (can’t let go). At higher levels, electric current will damage skin and internal organs.

There are many factors in electric shock and there are other electrical hazards. But this is a big one and you should avoid touching live circuits.

Fire is another electrical hazard. When too much current flows in conductors, the wires can get very hot and ignite combustible material. In fact, the US National Electrical Code is actually a document of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), not a government agency.

To limit the risk of fire and other damage, every power circuit needs some form of protection. Fuses are quite common; their internal metal melts at a pre-determined current to disconnect power.

Also, a smaller (amp rating) fuse can safely be inserted in a protective circuit but one should never put in a larger one. A fuse is sized to the circuit requirements and wiring is sized to the fuse. So a higher-ampacity fuse will not properly protect the wires or the circuit and serious overheating may occur in both AC and DC power circuits.

In addition to one-time use fuses, circuit breakers are another popular form of circuit protection; these may be reset and are often used as an on/off switch.

Many hams have a VHF/UHF radio and antenna for local communication, especially if they are involved in EmComm. Ideally you have an exterior antenna up high for best performance with your radio. The downside to that is that vertically-oriented VHF/UHF monopole antennas are a juicy target for lightning strikes. Basically, they look like a lightning rod.

Lightning wants to go to ground and if the best path is through your antenna and feed line, your radio is likely to be destroyed. And if you’re right near the radio when it happens, you might be injured, or a fire might be started by the lightning strike. Bottom line, bad things can happen with an outdoor antenna during a thunderstorm.

Lightning damage in W0ZUX shack

Lightning protection is important to have. There are numerous sources of arresters available, mostly for coaxial cable (feed line). Some simple and cheap, others complex and costly. How much is your radio and even your house worth to you?

Here are some commonly available coaxial cable lightning arresters:

Even better than these stand-alone arresters with separate ground wires is to group them on a plate that is well-grounded.

Special ground rods with arrester mounting plates are available for this:

Common lightning arresters on your antenna feed line help only with minor stray lightning bolts. A direct strike on your antenna cannot be stopped by a simple arrester; there is too much energy involved to dissipate. The radio will be destroyed in such a case, along with possible damage and injury.

So what can you do to protect yourself and your radio from lightning? In addition to using arresters the best way is to Continue reading →